Skip to main content

Casino Royale Movie Review

“You changed your shirt, Mr. Bond.  I hope our little game isn’t causing you to perspire.” - Le Chiffre
See the source image
Casino Royale was directed by Martin Campbell, and is the first film to star Daniel Craig as James Bond.  The movie also stars Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, and Judi Dench.  In this film, MI6 Agent James Bond achieves 00 status and earns his licence to kill.  From there, he is assigned his first mission as Agent 007, and we follow Bond as he goes up against a terrorist financier named Le Chiffre in a game of poker, in an attempt to make him go bankrupt. 
When it came out in 2006, nobody had ever seen a Bond film like Casino Royale.  It took familiar staples of the classic Bond films and turned them on their heads.  The film served as a reboot for the Bond series, and next to Mad Max: Fury Road, Casino Royale is one of my favorite reboots of a popular franchise.  It does what all great reboots should do: it gives familiar characters and tropes a new style.  Rarely did we see Bond movies that were dark and gritty before Daniel Craig stepped in to portray the character.  I think this style works especially well for the series, considering that this was the style of the original Ian Fleming Bond novels.  
Visually, this movie looks spectacular.  The costumes and makeup are wonderful, the sets and locations are lavish and beautiful, and the action scenes are filmed using wide shots so that we can clearly see all of the small details while still getting the bigger picture.  There are lots of practical effects in this film that make all the action setpieces feel very realistic.  There were never any moments that I could tell that CGI was being used, and I really liked that.  Another thing about Casino Royale that tends to go unnoticed is its use of color.  Different colors are used to project different moods and even agendas of different characters at certain points in the story.
The film sounds great as well.  The score by David Arnold is smooth and stylish, and Chris Cornell’s opening song “You Know My Name” is equal parts jazzy, tough, and hard-hitting.  The sound editing and mixing are superb and make you feel as if you’re in the middle of each scene.  The acting is perfect in Casino Royale, and everybody gives performances that are extremely convincing.  The line delivery is truly incredible, and always has just the right amount of humor, sadness, anger, passion, or wit to keep you on your toes.  
My only issue with Casino Royale isn’t even technically a real issue.  I wanted more.  The only problem with wanting more is that the film is already two hours and twenty-four minutes long, and it wraps up just about as well as it could have.  There really isn’t anything more to add to the film that would improve its quality.  I think just saying that proves that Casino Royale is absolutely worth your time, and I highly recommend checking it out. 
Rating: PG-13
Grade: A

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alita: Battle Angel Movie Review

“I do not stand by in the presence of evil.” - Alita Alita: Battle Angel is the new film by director Robert Rodriguez.  It is a cyberpunk sci-fi action movie starring Rosa Salazar as the title character.  Also starring are Christoph Waltz, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jennifer Connelly, and Jackie Earle Haley.   The film is about Alita, a young cyborg girl rebuilt by Dr. Dyson Ido (Waltz), who just wants to know more about her past, and where she came from.  Ido is very protective of her, as there is a lot of crime happening in the streets. Nonetheless, the curious Alita goes out exploring every day, and meets a boy named Hugo who she falls in love with.  Meanwhile, there is some villainous activity going on involving a man named Vector, and a mysterious figure called Nova who lives in Zalem, a giant floating city where all the upper-class people live that hovers above the city below that is home to all the lower-class citizens. Alita: Battle Angel is a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Carnivàle Series Review

“Pain is an unavoidable side effect.” - Brother Justin Crowe Carnivàle is an HBO original series that ran from 2003 to 2005.  The show was created by Daniel Knauf, and stars Nick Stahl, Clancy Brown, Clea DuVall, Michael J. Anderson, and Tim DeKay.  Set in 1934 during the Dust Bowl, the story follows Ben Hawkins, a young man gifted with extraordinary healing powers, but tortured by horrific visions and dreams.  After the death of his mother, he is picked up by a traveling carnival led by a little person named Samson.  Meanwhile, in a different part of the country, a pious minister named Brother Justin Crowe is building a vast following of churchgoers with the help of his sister Iris.  However, Brother Justin also suffers from terrible visions, and possesses mystical powers of his own.  Connected through their powers, Ben and Brother Justin realize that Armageddon is on the rise, and that everything is building up to one final battle between good and e...
Post a Comment
Read more

Da 5 Bloods Movie Review

“Why do you fight against us, so far away from where you are needed?” - Hanoi Hannah Da 5 Bloods is the newest film directed by Spike Lee, and it stars Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Chadwick Boseman, and Jonathan Majors.  The film tells the tale of four Black veterans who return to Vietnam in the present day to bring home the remains of a fallen soldier.  However, that isn’t their only mission.  They are also there to recover a cache of buried gold and split the money between the four of them.   Da 5 Bloods is an incredibly intense yet heartfelt film, and it’s also very important and relevant to what’s going on in the world today.  It’s an extremely politically charged movie, and while that could be a turn-off for some people, I think it’s the type of film that needs to be seen regardless of who you are.  It’s informative and educational, and it gives the viewer knowledge about our current political climate as well as t...
Post a Comment
Read more